Naruto: Tayuya
by avatarfan364
Summary: ..."I'll give you credit. You're a lot smarter than I thought and a lot more persistent." Tayuya stated to Shikamaru...
1. Chapter 1

"Byakugan!" Neji yelled as he summoned his jutsu. He looked through the forest and saw the Sound Four nearby.

"I see them." Neji told Naruto.

"Well, let's go. I'm dying to show these clowns what I got!" Naruto yelled.

"Is that right? Hate to disappoint you Hotshot but I've got a new jutsu I've been working on too." Kiba added.

"Yeah, me too." Choji added.

"Alright, calm down. First we make a plan and get everything ready. We nail these jerks," Shikamaru said.

"Looks like we caught them napping. Hold on, where's Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked as he looked around the camp; he then looked at Neji.

"He's in there, inside that coffin with chakra sealing tags on it," Neji answered pointing to a coffin Tayuya was sitting on. Sakon quickly stood up from his position and threw a kunai where Shikamaru was. It hit a tree beside him and Neji, and attached to it was an exploding tag. They both jumped out of the way as it exploded. The force threw them onto the ground in front of Sakon, Jirobo, Tayuya and Kidomaru.

"Well, well, I thought I was flushing a snake out of the bushes but all I got was a couple of mice," Sakon replied as Jirobo readied to battle Shikamaru.

"Wait a minute, calm down. We're here to negotiate not to fight. Can't we talk this over like reasonable people?" Shikamaru asked as Kidomaru snickered.

"Let's not forget your friends shall we?" Kidomaru asked as he threw some chakra thread and grabbed Naruto, Kiba, and Choji. Kiba grabbed a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground as he fell.

"He-he, what good's that gonna do? Throw all the smoke bombs you want; we still got you. These threads are so fine they're almost invisible, but they're stronger than they look. You may have already encountered them in the forest." Kiba said as the smoke faded.

"Darn it!" Naruto yelled as he, Kiba, and Choji lay on the ground.

"So that double trap of trip wires you set was actually a triple trap. That was clever. So I guess that makes you the smart one of the ground?" Shikamaru asked.

"You're about to be the dead one." Kidomaru yelled as he tried to move, "my body... what's happening?"

"Man that was perfect! While Kiba distracted him you nailed them with your shadow possession jutsu!" Naruto explained.

"Yeah, that's right. You're not the only ones who can spring a trap. Thanks for making me look good in front of the squad. Appreciate it," Shikamaru said.

"Very impressive, I'd be even more impressed if I hadn't mastered that technique as well," Sakon said as kunai were thrown at Shikamaru.

"What was that?" Shikamaru yelled as one cut his arm. Jirobo smirked as the shadow possession broke.

"Earth style barrier. Earth dome prison!" Jirobo said as he pressed his hands against the ground and it circled around the ninja; it climbed up until it had made a dome of earth around them.

"Ugh, terrific," Shikamaru groaned.

"What is this?" Neji asked.

"It's a barrier of some kind and we're stuck in it," Shikamaru explained.

"So now what?" Kiba asked.

"Since I'm the one who caught them, I get them. Anyone else have a problem with that?" Jirobo asked them.

"Go ahead, we're not waiting. When you're done with them catch up with us. Don't take all day," Sakon said as Kidomaru picked up the coffin with four of his arms and started walking. Tayuya and Sakon followed.

"Hey, you out there! Let us out right now!" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah, like that's gonna help," Kiba said as he felt the walls; Neji came over.

"It seems to be nothing more than a dirt wall." Neji said.

"It's some jutsu. We should watch our step; it could be another trap in a trap." Shikamaru said.

"Huh, a wall's a wall and there's no wall I can't punch a hole through," Kiba bragged.

"Yeah, it's worth a try I guess, after all we do have to do something despite the risk," Shikamaru replied as Kiba ran towards the wall.

"Tunneling Fang!" Kiba yelled as he hit the wall, nothing happened and the wall quickly healed itself from the small crack Kiba caused.

"The darn wall's rebuilding itself," Shikamaru thought.

"Hey, did you just-" Kiba started to ask.

"Yes, we saw it," Neji stopped him.

"LET US OUT!" Naruto yelled.

"It appears to be more than just a dirt wall. Byakugan!" Neji yelled as he looked through the wall.

"The wall is..." Neji started.

"The wall is what?" Shikamaru asked as Neji lifted up his hands.

On the other side of the barrier, Jirobo pressed his hands and absorbed chakra from it.

"Our chakra, it's absorbing it as if it were a sponge." Neji explained.

"Great, it's not enough they bury us alive in this oversized dung heap, now they're trying to chakra. You got to give these guys credit for thoroughness at least." Kiba said.

"No way, NO WAY THEY CAN DO THIS TO US! WHOEVER YOU ARE LET US OUOT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!" Naruto shouted but Jirobo still kept absorbing the chakra.

'Thanks for the meal, I've almost had my full,' Jirobo thought as all the ninja inside fell to the floor.

"I feel like all my energy is draining out of me." Naruto said as Neji used Byakugan on him. He saw that Naruto's chakra was being pulled out of him.

"Something must be done, Shikamaru, and quickly," Neji said.

'Man, I was an idiot to move in without knowing the full extent of the enemy's powers. Now we're trapped like rats,' Shikamaru thought as he looked around and Kiba felt the floor.

"That does it, stand back guys. I'm gonna bust out of here before my chakra's all gone. Akamaru, have a food pill," Kiba said as he gave it to the dog; suddenly he turned red and barked loudly. Kiba also took one.

"Ok, ninja art human mimicry! And as for me ninja art beast mimicry!" Kiba yelled as Akamaru turned into him.

"Fang over fang!" Kiba yelled as they both rammed into the walls.

"That a boy, Kiba, go for it!" Naruto yelled.

"Go on, knock yourself out," Jirobo said from the outside as Akamaru fell to the ground exhausted. They watched as all the cracks they made healed themselves.

"Look at that, as soon as a crack appears it repairs itself, and same with the ground beneath it," Kiba said, "I give us about ten more minutes before our chakra's completely drained."

Neji watched as Naruto formed a rasengan in his hand but it went away.

'No use, I need all my energy to use for the rasengan. There's no way in here; I've lost too much as it is. This stinks!' Naruto thought.

"Hey out there, let me talk to your leader. I've got a deal to propose. What I'm thinking is you let us out of this thing, and in return we let you keep Sasuke," Shikamaru shouted.

"Huh" Kiba asked.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked him.

"My favorite part, when they start pleading for their life. No deal, I've never let a captive go before; I'm not about to start now," Jirobo replied.

"Oh come on, listen, how about you just let me go and keep the others," Shikamaru said as everyone glared at him.

"All this fighting, I'm tired of it. It's really not my thing." Shikamaru added.

"You little... if you're selling us out I'm gonna wring your neck!" Kiba shouted.

"Shut up Kiba, for once in your life." Shikamaru ordered.

"What did you say?" Kiba yelled as Jirobo laughed.

"So much for teamwork. So you're really the leader huh? What a fine example you're setting for the rest of your team. You see a man's true character when he's pushed to the edge but you're hardly a man at all, certainly not one to lead a team of ninja into battle. Sacrificing Sasuke and the rest of your squad so that's how a lead junin acts. Did you really believe I might let you out? You deserve to die," Jirobo stated.

"That does it Shikamaru, you dirty little traitor let's take this outside. Just you and me!" Naruto shouted.

"What do you mean take this outside? How are you going to do that you idiot we're trapped in here," Kiba asked him.

"What'd you call me?" Naruto shouted.

"I called you an idiot! Idiot!" Kiba yelled back.

"That's what I thought you said!" Naruto shouted as he tackled him.

"That's enough! Just everybody shut up!" Choji yelled making Naruto and Kiba stop.

"Choji?" Naruto asked as they all looked at him; Shikamaru knelt on the ground.

"What's Shikamaru doing meditating or something? Why is he just squatting there?" Naruto asked as Choji pulled out some chips and started eating.

"AHH! You got to be kidding me? Is that all you think about?" Naruto yelled at Choji.

"That's Choji for you; he responds to a crisis by stuffing his face. He's a real big help." Kiba added.

"Forget this! I'm gonna give shadow clones a try," Naruto said.

"Don't bother, that ninja has infused this wall with chakra so that it repairs itself. Your shadow clones won't work. You'll only deplete your own chakra. The fact is multiple attacks won't work; our only hope is taijutsu strong enough to break it in one blow." Neji answered.

"Well, Choji has a taijutsu knockout punch even stronger than mine but just look at him. He's got other things on his mind." Kiba said as Choji continued eating.

"Come on, what are we going to do just stand here?" Naruto asked as Shikamaru opened his eyes.

"Neji, I need you to focus your eyes on the walls directly behind you and directly behind Choji, do you think you have enough chakra let for that?" Shikamaru asked.

"I think so," Neji replied.

"Hold on, you're not gonna listen to him?" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto, you still don't get it do you? Don't you remember what Shikamaru said when we came together as a team?" Choji asked.

"Choji, try to keep your voice down will ya, Kiba are you up for trying to put another dent in the wall behind Choji?" Shikamaru said.

"Sure, I guess. I don't know what's going on but I'm always up for getting wild. Twirling fang!" Kiba answered as he rammed into the wall.

"Huh, they've got a lot more persistence than brains." Jirobo said outside as Kiba fell to the ground and Neji watched the wall rebuild.

"Yes, I see it. That's the spot," Neji said.

"Okay, now Neji, mark the spot with your kunai knife; Choji, you ready buddy?" Shikamaru asked.

"Shikamaru, I was born ready," Choji answered.

"Good, then let's get started," Shikamaru replied.

"Wait let's get what started?" Naruto asked.

"As I said a moment ago, this wall around us has been infused with chakra. However, the strength of the chakra won't be uniform. Some points in the wall must be weaker than others. Shikamaru was able to figure that out." Neji explained.

"He did really? He could've fooled me, when the heck was this?' Naruto asked.

"He's been watching and taking it in. For example, when Kiba and Akamaru attacked the wall while you were watching them, he was studying the wall and he observed some parts soft h wall repaired more slowly than others." Neji explained as he threw a kunai at a healing crack, "that led him to believe that those points the chakra was the weakest. Still he needed to be sure that's why he spoke to our captor as he did. It was a ruse to trick him into giving away his position and it worked, confirming that Shikamaru's suspicions were right. The band of charka running through the wall was thinnest and weakest at the point opposite from his position. That's about right isn't it?" Naruto asked Shikamaru who nodded.

'And all the time we thought he was selling us out. Gotta hand it to him, he not only fooled the enemy, he had us going too.' Kiba thought.

'And here we thought Choji was stuffing his face again when he was really trying to replenish his chakra,' Naruto thought as he looked at Choji.

'These two guys, I guess they haven't been working as a team all the time for nothing," Kiba thought.

"It's up to you Choji," Shikamaru said.

"Ok, expansion jutsu! Alright here we go! Human boulder!" Choji yelled as he turned into a big ball and quickly rolled towards the opposite wall of the ninja. He kept trying until the wall finally broke and Choji rolled out.

"What?" Jirobo yelled as the walls caved in.

"Well, Choji, there's no other way of saying it. That was awesome," Shikamaru said as Choji snickered.

"They managed to escape my barrier ninjutsu," Jirobo said as he looked at Choji.

"He's by himself. I guess the others went on ahead," Shikamaru said as Neji used Byakugan.

"You're correct. They're nowhere to be seen," Neji added.

"Swell, and just when I thought we'd finally caught up to them," Shikamaru said as Tayuya, Kidomaru, and Sakon jumped through the forest with Sasuke. Jirobo clapped.

"Not a bad bit of handiwork you guys. For a bunch of losers," Jirobo replied.

"What?" Naruto shouted.

"Who are you calling loser?" Kiba yelled as he and Naruto ran towards Jirobo.

"Now that we're out you're toast pal," Kiba shouted.

"This guy's mine!" Naruto yelled.

"What you two? Stop!" Neji yelled to them; they did, "there's no way we can take him head on. it's too dangerous,"

"We just tore through this clown's barrier how tough can he be?" Kiba asked as he yelled twirling fang and ran towards Jirobo. Jirobo simply punched him and threw him back.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Neji yelled as he and his clone ran towards him, "get a load of this you moron!"

Jirobo simply pushed them back.

"I'm going to eat you guys for lunch!" Jirobo shouted to them as Kiba stood up. Jirobo ran and knocked Kiba over again.

"Rising knee!" Jirobo shouted as he knocked Naruto back down, "you wouldn't even do as an appetizer."

"Careful everyone, this guy's just getting warmed up," Shikamaru warned.

"Earth style barrier. Earth dome prison!" Jirobo yelled but Choji ran in front of them.

"Expansion jutsu! Human boulder!" Choji yelled; when the smoke cleared the ninjas were nowhere in sight.

"Hardly worth the effort," Jirobo said as he looked around.

Neji, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji sat down in a group beside some trees.

"We're running out of time; there's no choice we've got to split up." Shikamaru said to them.

"What'd be the point in that?" Naruto asked.

"No, he's right," Neji said as he used Byakugan and looked back at Jirobo.

"With all our chakra taken away even with the five of us against him, he's not going to be easy to take out and with every second that passes Sasuke gets closer to the border. Once he crosses it, it will all be out of our hands. So we should split into two groups. One to stop him and one to follow Sasuke." Neji explained.

"You'll head the second team, okay Neji?" Shikamaru asked as Jirobo looked around trying to find them. He snickered broke the earth around him. Naruto and the others jumped out of the way to avoid a falling tree.

"So there you are," Jirobo said as he looked over.

"Neji, you take Kiba and Choji and head out after Sasuke." Shikamaru ordered.

"You've got it," Neji said as he nodded.

"Naruto, you and I'll handle this guy," Shikamaru said as he knelt down.

"What are you going to do? Play with my shadow again? Don't waste my time kid you've already showed me your little parlor trick and once was enough," Jirobo asked him

"That's funny; I see to remember someone getting taking in by that parlor trick." Shikamaru said as his shadows came towards Jirobo. Jirobo smiled as he hit the earth and the place was clouded by dust. Neji used Byakugan to see that he's disappeared.

"He's disappeared," Neji said as Kiba smelled.

"He's behind us!" Kiba yelled as Jirobo picked up a humongous piece of earth.

"Earth style Sphere of Grace!" Jirobo yelled.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Naruto yelled as Jirobo threw it at them. They quickly dodged and landed in front of the large boulder. They looked back and didn't see him.

"Look out you guys, there's another one coming," Shikamaru warned as Jirobo's hand reached out of the ground and grabbed Shikamaru's ankle.

"You're in charge of this rag-tag team am I right? When you have an idiot for the leader the whole team suffers. Know what I mean? You don't want to follow a guy like this, let me get rid of him for you," Jirobo asked Shikamaru who he held upside down. He then started spinning Shikamaru in the air. He then threw Shikamaru into the woods.

"Expansion jutsu! Human boulder!" Choji yelled as he rolled and caught Shikamaru in his stomach before he hit a huge tree, "gotcha,"

"Thanks Choji," Shikamaru said.

"Aw, I try to help you guys out and look what you do. I don't know who's more pathetic the fool or those who follow him. Tell you what, you don't want to work under this glum faced little shadow lover. I'll just kill you now and put you out of your misery" Jirobo said.

"It's time for you to shut your big mouth or I'll come shut it for you!" Neji yelled.

"Naruto! I'll handle him, this guy is mine." Choji said.

"But Choji..." Shikamaru started.

"What the heck are you talking about? This isn't the type of guy you can take on your own." Naruto pointed out.

"He's mine I said," Choji repeated.

"Yeah but... Choji you're..." Naruto started.

"Shikamaru, take these food pills for everyone," Choji said as he handed Shikamaru a bag.

"Choji, you're not gonna..." Shikamaru asked.

"Ah-huh, don't worry I've got my secret weapon with me," Choji replied.

"Yeah, but Choji this is..." Shikamaru started as Choji walked towards Jirobo.

"Oh, this is priceless. You think I'm going to wait forever." Jirobo yelled.

"Heads up," Naruto said.

"I'm tired of this. I'm taking you all out right here," Jirobo yelled as he ran towards Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto.

"Get going hurry!" Choji yelled as he got in front of them and pulled out his three colored pills. He took the green one out.

'Pills? Those aren't food pills so what are they?' Jirobo thought.

'First the green spinach pill,' Choji thought as he ate the green one.

"Get out of my way you joke!" Jirobo yelled as Choji stopped him.

'Impossible, he stopped me,' Jirobo thought.

"Shikamaru, take everybody and get out of here! What did the five of us join together for? If we lose Sasuke we'll be just what this guy said we are, a stupid idiot of a leader with his band of rejects," Choji yelled.

"You better catch up with us, Choji, you hear me?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, I hear you. Just go already!" Choji yelled.

"Alright, let's move you guys!" Shikamaru said.

"Right," Kiba, Neji and Naruto said.

'Choji,' Shikamaru thought as he looked back.

"Once, I finally finish you off your friends are gonna be next," Jirobo said.

"That might not be as easy as you think it is," Choji pointed out as he started pushing Jirobo back. Choji then picked him up and threw him back.

"I will...stop you," Choji finished.

**Neji, Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru**

"A parting gift from Choji, eat up," Shikamaru said as he threw the bag to Naruto.

"Got it, we owe you one, Choji," Naruto said as he took one.

"Kiba," Naruto said as he threw it to him.

"Thanks, Naruto." Kiba said.

"Shikamaru, that certain pill we saw Choji take back there, it seemed like some last minute drunk card. Do you really think he can win?" Neji asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah, I mean he said he had some sort of secret weapon on him." Kiba answered as he gave Akamaru a pill.

"Don't worry; Choji's got a plan up his sleeve. He brought along with him the Akamichi Clan's secret triple threat. Pills that grant a person explosive power, there are three of them, green, yellow and red. The amount of power that each of those pills contain is absolutely massive." Shikamaru explained.

"Oh, I got ya. So that's why he was acting so confident." Naruto replied.

"Yeah, but any pill that works that well always comes with side effects." Shikamaru said.

**Choji and Jirobo**

Choji looked at the fallen Jirobo as he breathed heavily. He suddenly had a great pain in his stomach.

'I didn't think the spinach pill by itself would hurt so much,' Choji thought.

**Neji, Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru **

'I hope he can settle things with the green pill alone. Just don't take the red one, Choji. Whatever you do,' Shikamaru thought.

**Choji and Jirobo**

"I'm gonna finish this all in one blow," Choji said as he brought out two ropes full of kunai. He then wrapped them around himself. Jirobo saw what he was doing and lifted up.

"Expansion jutsu!" Choji yelled, "Spikes human chain boulder!"

Choji rolled towards Jirobo but Jirobo jumped out of the way.

'He's upped his rotation and destructive power by using those kunai like spikes,' Jirobo thought as he slammed his hands on the ground.

"Earth style terra shield," Jirobo yelled as a piece of earth came out of the ground and acted as a shield in front of him but Choji rammed through it and towards Jirobo. Jirobo managed to stop him but was injured from the kunai.

'Did I do it?' Choji thought to himself.

**Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, and Naruto **

Akamaru looked up to Kiba and whimpered.

"Yeah I know, I was just thinking the same thing myself," Kiba answered.

"What do mean? What is he saying?" Naruto asked.

"You know how Akamaru can tell an enemies' strength just by scent right? He's pretty worried that Choji might not be able to take on that Gargantuan alone with just those pills to help him," Kiba explained.

"He's right to be; if we're looking at it objectively that giant's ability is an unknown. The chances of Choji defeating him may be close to zero however that's very often the case in battle.

**Choji and Jirobo**

Choji looked down and saw Jirobo face being taken over by glowing triangles.

"Don't get carried away you little fool," Jirobo said as he ran towards Choji.

"Shatter pull!" Jirobo shouted as he hit Choji and threw him back. Choji flew back; his form came back to normal and his kunai fell off. He slid into a tree.

"Ha, no one ever told you. Whenever there's a team of five there's always somebody in the mix who's just dead weight. The guy who is always the butt of everyone's jokes and when thick comes to thin he gets cast aside like the worthless pawn he is. That's who you are! Looks like I hit it right on the nose. It looks as though the Leaf Village is running low on ninja if they're sending out bumblers like you to be part of a search team. What do you say we put an end to this?" Jirobo said as he ran to Choji and hit him.

"Knee slam! Shoulder charge!" Jirobo yelled as Choji was thrown back.

"A loser right to the end, you started out well but that backbone you showed sure didn't last long. You're the epitome of failure. It's not your fault; they never should have sent a reject like you in the first place. You should blame your stupid leader for choosing you.

"Shikamaru..."

**Neji, Kiba, Naruto, and Shikamaru**

"Neji is right; that's just how Naruto battle is. We knew from the beginning this mission wouldn't be child's play. It's life or death." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, but... Shikamaru..." Naruto started.

"I've already anticipated the worst case scenario where each of us ends up fighting alone and at this point if we're not ready to lay our lives down for this we might not be able to reach Sasuke in time. Choji us good enough to hold his own, but he doesn't have a lot of confidence. He thinks that out of all of us he's the weakest link." Shikamaru explained.

"That's because the guy kind of is. I mean anyone can see that. That's pretty much the reason he stayed behind back there. Because he wanted to be some kind of use to us." Kiba said.

"Just as I thought, but..." Shikamaru started.


	2. Chapter 2

Please R&R

* * *

**Jirobo and Choji **

Jirobo punched Choji sending him backwards; Jirobo kicked him in the mouth throwing him back again. Choji stood up and grabbed something out of his pocket.

'Shikamaru... he's always believed in me, he believes I really am strong,' Choji thought as he ate the yellow pill. Suddenly Choji fell into the ground a little and was surrounded by chakra waves, 'that's why he trusted me to handle this fight by myself.'

**Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto, and Kiba**

"Just as I thought, everyone's always thought that way about Choji but me, I've always known the real truth. More than me or Neji or anyone else here, Choji's got strength, I belive in him. I always have," Shikamaru said.

**Choji and Jirobo**

"Pretty impressive chakra but not a far cry from being a man dish," Jirobo said.

"Here I come, fatso," Choji yelled.

"Don't you call me that!" Jirobo yelled as he ran towards him.

"Partial expansion jutsu!" Choji yelled as only his arm grew. Choji hit Jirobo with his large arm throwing him back.

"Partial expansion jutsu!" Choji yelled as his leg grew. Choji aimed a kick at Jirobo but he dodged. Choji lifted his hand and smacked Jirobo onto the ground. Jirobo grabbed Choji's hand and threw him into the air.

"Super expansion jutsu!" Choji yelled in the air as his whole body grew to the size of a mountain and then Choji fell on him.

'Shikamaru... I did it...' Choji thought but Jirobo lifted him into the air.

"What?" Choji shouted.

"I don't believe I have to go into the second stage for an opponent as weak as this one," Jirobo said. When in cursed seal level 2 form, his skin became red, his Mohawk became a mane down his back, and he gained ten times his normal strength.

"Stomach punch!" Jirobo yelled as he hit Choji sending him flying in the air. Choji fell to the ground in his normal size, unable to move.

'What the..." he changed his form.' Choji thought.

"I'm afraid it's all over for you. In second stage I'm invincible. I can dish out ten times as powers I could before." Jirobo said as he walked towards Choji. Choji weakly turned over.

'It hurts to move. I didn't know the side effects of the curry pill would be so intense,' Choji thought as Jirobo stood over him.

"You better listen to me because I'm about to teach you a very important lesson. This is what happens to weaklings! You're pathetic; you'd be better playing ninja with your friends," Jirobo shouted as he kicked Choji back. Choji breathed heavily on the ground as Jirobo walked towards him. Jirobo grabbed Choji and pushed him further into the ground.

"Now that I'm in my second state I'm going to need a lot more chakra which means I'm going to have to take whatever you've got left inside you. Alright kiddo let's get this over with," Jirobo said as he licked his lips. He then started draining the chakra in Choji's body.

"Huh, you don't have very much left do ya? You weakling I'm still hungry!" Jirobo asked as he lifted him up and threw him back. When he did, Choji's potato chips to fall out of his bag; Choji reached for the bag but Jirobo stepped on his hand.

"I said I'm still hungry," Jirobo repeated as he picked the bag up, 'oh of course, fatso only left one chip, well I guess I'll take what I can get. How does it feel to be a pawn, to be sacrificed by your so called friends, left here to die, a pitiful fatso. The odd man out, rest in peace scum but you're not the only loser I'm gonna destroy. After I'm finished here with you 'm gonna hunt down your heartless friends that sacrificed you for your own good and crush them too,"

**Kiba, Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru **

Shikamaru scratched a notch into the tree.

"It's for Choji, he promised us he'd catch up. Trust me he will beat that guy and after he does, he'll come and find us,"

"No doubt about it if anyone can defeat him it's Choji," Kiba said.

"Well, as long as we're here." Naruto said as he pulled out a kunai and ran over to the tree.

"Good idea," Kiba said as he followed him.

"Ok guys, let's get Sasuke back before Choji catches up." Shikamaru said as they ran off.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled as he followed him. He and Kiba at carved an arrow in the direction they went.

**Tayuya, Kidomaru and Sakon**

"Jirobo's late. He should've gotten here by now," Sakon said.

"Well you know how enormous his appetite can be. He's probably squeezing every bit of chakra." Tayuya answered.

"Too bad, I wish I was in his shoes," Kidomaru replied.

**Jirobo and Choji**

"Oh, sorry, looks like I finished the bag," Jirobo said as he crumbled the bag up and hit Choji in the head with it, "well punk it's getting late and I need to go meet some people. Looks like it's about time to say your goodbyes,"

'I've still got the chili pepper pill left, but if I swallow it I'll die,' Choji thought.

**Kiba, Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru**

'No matter what, don't you die on me, Choji.' Shikamaru thought as he carved in a tree bark. He finished then they continued running.

'We've always stuck together, ever since the day we met. We've always stuck together and that's not going to end now. Choji...'

**Jirobo and Choji**

Choji continued breathing heavily on the ground as Jirobo popped his knuckles.

'Shikamaru... I'm sorry...I'm not going to catch up,' Choji thought.

"It's over, say your prayers," Jirobo said.

'No... I have to stop him even if it means I die...' Choji thought as he ate the red pill, 'I've got to win.'

"There's no way you can beat me!" Jirobo yelled as he punched Choji. Jirobo looked down but Choji wasn't there. Butterflies flew by him as he turned around. Choji had wings made of pure chakra.

'What is that?' Jirobo thought.

"It doesn't matter. Slamming boulder!" Jirobo shouted as he punched at Choji. But Choji stopped him with little effort.

"Don't even try, because now I'm one hundred times stronger than before!" Choji shouted as he punched Jirobo, throwing him back. Choji stood in front of him.

"People hold grudges when you take things that are important to them, like for instance, their food. That punch I gave you was for eating the last bite of my favorite snack.

'Impossible. This boy has so much power that his body has changed.' Jirobo thought as he lifted up.

"This next hit," Choji said as he hit Jirobo throwing him back again, "was for calling me names like pawn and fatso and loser. I can handle being picked on but what you've done is unforgivable. He was my best friend and you insulted him. How dare you? You can steal every last bite of my very last food; you can mock me all you want but when you insult my best friend I will obliterate you!" Choji shouted as Jirobo weakly lifted his arm up but Choji stomped it down.

'All of my chakra to my left hand!' Choji thought as Jirobo weakly lifted his head.

"This last attack his worth my whole life!" Choji shouted.

"Wait, don't please don't do it!" Jirobo yelled as Choji punched him in the chest, creating a giant crater and at the same time crushed Jirobo's heart, killing him instantly. Jirobo's body then reverted to its original appearance and he lay defeated in the bottom of the crater, leaving Choji the victor of the battle. Choji fell over beside him.

"I did it," Choji said.

'A guy like me... I beat him," Choji thought as he weakly stood up and grabbed his headband that fell off. Choji walked into the forest.

'My friends...' Choji thought as a butterfly flew beside him and he followed it into the woods. His vision got blurry and he stopped, breathing heavily. Choji followed arrow after arrow until he saw one that had writing on it.

'Hurry up slowpoke, Naruto wrote that, we'll all waiting for you-Kiba, and Shikamaru,' Choji thought with a smile as he cried, "dad you were right, I made some really great friends,"

Choji gasped as his heart ached and he fell against the tree and went limp.

**Neji, Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru**

Shikamaru ran through the forest but stopped when he saw a blue butterfly fly past him and looked back.

"What's the matter?" Neji asked.

"It's nothing." Shikamaru answered. Akamaru barked.

"We're getting close," Kiba said as Neji used Byakugan. He looked ahead and saw nothing.

"That's weird, it's been a long time and we still haven't encountered a single trap. We'll Shikamaru, what's your assessment." Neji pointed out.

"It looks to me like we've been underestimated. They're cocky; they think we're all dead now and their big guy's the only one following them. They don't need a trap for their own man do they?" Shikamaru explained.

"Those idiots, they think we're so weak," Naruto shouted.

"It seems your right about our enemies, Shikamaru, and it's insulting to be underestimated like this but still this could be our chance." Neji said.

"I know, now we can take them by surprise," Shikamaru replied.

**Tayuya, Sakon, and Kidomaru **

"Jirobo's pretty late isn't he?" Sakon asked.

"He was but he just arrived," Kidomaru said as Jirobo came up from behind them.

"Well, it's about time. What took so long?" Sakon asked.

"Sorry, it took longer than I thought to eat all that loser's chakra." Jirobo explained.

"Listen fatso, don't slow us down so you can eat more. You see that coffin with chakra sealing tags on it? You're supposed to be the one who's carrying it. So do your job you slob!" Tayuya scolded.

"Ok," Jirobo simply answered as they looked at him suspiciously.

"Well, Jirobo aren't you easy going today?" Kidomaru asked.

"Yeah, so what?" Jirobo asked as Kidomaru stopped.

"Well, it's just I'm not going to be handing over this coffin to you, because you're not the real Jirobo!" Kidomaru said as he threw the coffin at Tayuya.

"Let me take down this one fellows, Sakon, Tayuya, go one I'll catch up." Kidomaru said as Jirobo came towards him with a kunai. Kidomaru caught Jirobo's arm in midair.

"The real Jirobo is always scolding Tayuya about her rather coarse language." Kidomaru said as Jirobo turned into Shikamaru.

"You got me," Shikamaru said as he tried to land a kick but Kidomaru caught it with his other arm.

"Ninja Art Spider Web Net!" Kidomaru yelled as a spider net came out from his mouth. It caught Shikamaru and pinned him to a tree. Kidomaru looked up and saw six of Naruto's clones coming towards him.

"Surprised to see me?" they said in unison as Kidomaru jumped off the tree limb and spit spider webs into his bottom two hands.

"Ninja Art Spiraling Spider web!" Kidomaru yelled as a giant spider web trapped all of the clones.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted.

'Kiba, Akamaru now's your chance, when he's in midair like that there's no way he can fight back,' Naruto thought.

"Fang over fang!" Kiba shouted as he and Akamaru flew towards Kidomaru but he had webs connected to the trees and dodged, throwing Akamaru and Kiba onto limbs.

"I won't let you get away!" Kiba shouted as Kidomaru laughed.

"You stole my line, punk. You should look down at your feet," Kidomaru said as Akamaru and Kiba noticed spider webs keeping them to the limb.

"You coward! Do you really think you can stop us that easily?" Kiba yelled.

"Why don't you shut up?" Kidomaru asked him.

**Tayuya and Sakon **

"Where is he? Where could that fatso be doing? This stinks!" Tayuya yelled.

"We did leave the weakest one behind to take care of those brats, perhaps that was a mistake,"

**Kidomaru**

Neji jumped out and fell towards Kidomaru.

'My turn,' Neji thought as he used his Byakugan; Kidomaru turned around just in time to see him and dodged. He then secreted more webs at Neji.

"Neji no!" Naruto yelled.

"He's stuck!" Kiba yelled.

'Darn it, he got me, Naruto, Kiba, and Neji. We followed the plan but it's not working.' Shikamaru thought as Neji struggled in the webs and Akamaru turned back into a dog. He whimpered as Neji struggled in the web.

"How would you like to see the inside of an air tight cocoon?" Kidomaru asked as he threw coating after coating of webs onto Neji, making a cocoon.

"No!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed a kunai out of his bag and tried to cut the webbing but it wouldn't cut, "come on, come on, what the heck's this thread made out of? I can't cut it!"

"It's useless. My spider silk is so powerful nothing can break it. Two elephants couldn't pull it apart. Hmmm, that one's able to use shadow clone," Kidomaru answered as he chewed on threads in his mouth.

'No matter what I do this thread keeps sticking to me. The stickiness must come from combining his chakra with some type of fluid and the strength is unreal. Even after he releases the thread his chakra is still flowing through it, giving it power. Impossible, the level of this jutsu is out of this world. It's unstoppable. No wait I've got to calm down and focus my chakra. Kidomaru looked down at Naruto and pulled the webbing out of his mouth.

"Ninja art sticky spider threads!" Kidomaru yelled.

'That's a different color from the thread he used before. What's he gonna do?' Shikamaru thought. Kidomaru pulled the thread out of his mouth and they turned into solids.

'I see it's solidifying.' Shikamaru thought.

"Since you'll be my first victim let's make this entertaining. I'm going to play a little game to see which of you is the real one." Kidomaru said.

"What did you just say?" Naruto yelled as Kiba gritted his teeth.

"Contestant one, let's try you at the end," Kidomaru said as he threw the solidified web at him.

"No Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled but the Naruto was just a clone.

"Oh well, looks like he was a clone, no problem let's try another!" Kidomaru said as he threw it at another Naruto but he was just a clone as well, "whichever you are you're pretty lucky, next let's try to at a time; the odds will be doubled in my favor,"

He hit the both of them but they both turned out to be clones.

"You are a very lucky guy you know that? But this time I got a fifty-fifty shot. Here it comes!" Kidomaru shouted as he threw it at one of them; he turned out to be a clone, with only one left.

"Well, somehow he made it all the way to the bitter end. Well, weakling it was fun playing with ya. But unfortunately the games over for you now! Now die!" Kidomaru said as he threw the web at him.

"One down and three to go," Kidomaru said as it hit Naruto but he turned out to be a clone too.

"Wait where'd he?" Kidomaru asked as Naruto came out from behind him tried to hit him, but Kidomaru stopped him. They both fell off the limb but Kidomaru landed on another one.

"Of course, he let his shadow clones get caught while the real one waited for a chance to catch me off guard. For a wimp like that to come up with such deception in this battle... he's not so dumb after all, however. It looks like you're at the end of your rope," Kidomaru said as he saw Naruto had been caught by one of his strands and pulled Naruto towards him. But Neji interjected and cut the thread with his hand.

"How did he..." Kidomaru asked.

"Naruto thanks for stalling him for me!" Neji shouted as he sat Naruto down on a log.

"Neji!" Naruto said.

"I trapped you, how did you get free?" Kidomaru asked.

"Your spider web had a chakra base and chakra-built substances don't stand a chance against my gentle fist attack. This guy's jutsu I think I'm the only one who can handle it. Go on you guys, I'll take care of him," Neji explained as Akamaru started whimpering.

"What's wrong buddy?" Kiba asked as Akamaru jumped into his jacket, "hey wait Akamaru, well looks like this guy is stronger than that big guy we fought before, much stronger,"

"We're going to go one on one to have any chance. Isn't that what you said?" Neji asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah, that's what we agreed." Shikamaru answered.

"And besides, if we all stay here we won't be able to catch up with Sasuke," Neji added.

"What about Choji? He hasn't come back." Kiba asked.

"We all embarked on this mission to find Sasuke and bring him back home to the village, but that's not the only reason we've come. We are on this mission to protect a fellow shinobi, to defend the bond of the Hidden Leaf Village. When Iruka spoke at the Third Hokage's funeral, do you remember his words?" Neji asked, "'people risk their lives for other people because when someone passes away it's the end. His past and future, all the dreams he once had. They disappear along with him. This is true even if he dies honorably in battle as so many have as Hiyate did. All the ties that bind him to the living are severed all but one. The most important of all, people. Parents, siblings, friends, lovers, the people who are important to him and these people the ones left behind are joined together in a great circle by their shared memories of him. A circle of friendship, trust, and sacrifice that grows larger and stronger as time passes. It's hard to explain it. We remain in a circle together; we have no choice. It's important to us.'"

"Listen, Sasuke's out there right now heading towards Orochimaru. We can't let such evil take someone from our village that is not our way. What's more... Naruto sometimes you're eyes are even better than mine. Wherever he is, Sasuke is in the darkness. Now get going. I'll be right behind you," Neji ordered.

"Well, alright let's do this thing," Shikamaru said as he stood up.

"When you catch up with us, make sure you bring Choji too," Kiba added.

"Of course, I will." Neji answered as Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba left.

'Neji, I better see you again,' Naruto thought.

"Oh no you don't!" Kidomaru yelled as he threw a spider web at the others but Neji used Byakugan and dodged.

"Incoming!" Naruto yelled as Neji cut the thread he was bound in.

"He's pretty good, this is going to be fun," Kidomaru said as Naruto and the others got away.

"Thanks, Neji." Naruto said.

"Yep, that's him alright," Shikamaru replied.

'Not so fast, I'm not going to let you escape that easily,' Kidomaru thought as he spun more web.

"If you want them you'll have to go through me. Not good enough," Neji said as Kidomaru spat a web at him but he cut it.

"Well, that's just fine by me, besides you're the strongest one of the lot. Oh man, I'm really itching to play with you, and we should play slowly else the game's not as fun," Kidomaru said as Neji got into a fighting position and Kidomaru popped his knuckles.

"Ok, the game is I'll kill you in three minutes or less." Kidomaru said as Neji used Byakugan on him and saw a lot of chakra in his mouth. Kidomaru threw multiple webs at Neji through his mouth but Neji cut or dodged them all except one. It pinned Neji to a tree along with two more than pinned his arms. "ha, you're not going anywhere. For a wimp you're pretty good at handling chakra aren't ya? And those eyes of yours are pretty sharp. You sharpen the chakra points in your hands like a sharp needle and pinpoint the think part of chakra in my rope and then strike there. Yes, I heard this technique from Lord Orochimaru, you call it gentle fist right? But if you can't use those annoying hands of yours, then you won't be able to cut through my silk!"

Kidomaru flew towards Neji who smirked.

"That was way too easy, once you find out your opponents way of engagement, games like this one are no longer amusing. It's only been a minute or so and I'm already tired of playing with you. Die! Sticky spider thread!" Kidomaru yelled as he spat the blue thread right at Neji but Neji broke free and dodged it. Neji ran towards Kidomaru who still had the thread stuck in his mouth from it being caught in the tree. Neji jumped on the hardened thread and right in front of Kidomaru.

'How did he?' Kidomaru thought.

"I suppose you want me to explain how I broke free? You see it's not just my hands; there are chakra points all over me and I can emit chakra from any one. And now as you would say, game over! Gentle Fist Arch Eight Trigrams One Hundred Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji yelled as Kidomaru cut off the thread from his mouth.

"Eight Trigrams Two palm!" Neji yelled as he punched Kidomaru in the stomach.

"Four palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-Two! Sixty Two!" Neji shouted as he kept punching Kidomaru until he punched him through a tree. Kidomaru fell to the ground as Neji landed but he still got up.

'What's going on?' Neji thought as he looked and saw that Kidomaru had coated his body with the solidified silk.

'The surface of his body is the same material as that stuff he spat from his mouth," Neji observed as it fell off his body.

"Well well, that was close. I know if I take one hit from that gentle fist of yours, my whole chakra network goes out of whack. You keep me on my toes, kid." Kidomaru said.

"That material, where does it come from you monster?" Neji asked him.

"Impressive yes, my sticky spider thread's actually tied with metal that hardens the minute it leaves my body. It's impervious to chakra and what's more not only can I secret it from my mouth as you've seen but every sweat gland in my body," Kidomaru explained as he grew some on his hand.

'That explains it, that's my powers on his chakra points had no effect.' Neji thought.

'The spider web won't work on him and close-range combat is suicide. It's that gentle fist of his, I'll just have to keep my distance and look for a blind spot.' Kidomaru thought as Neji looked back and saw that he wasn't there. Neji looked around with his Byakugan as Kidomaru hid behind a bush in the trees.

'It'll come in a flash without a sound,' Kidomaru thought as he swung a thread from his middle finger. Suddenly Neji turned around as a kunai hit where he was standing with a tag, 'game over,' Kidomaru thought as he threw threads at him.

'The knife's just a ploy,' Neji thought as he looked around and saw daggers made of that metal coming towards him. Neji turned around and yelled.

"Eight trigrams heavenly spin!" as chakra spun around him, deflecting all the daggers.

'What the? Impossible... ' said as Neji stopped, standing in the middle of a crater, "he deflected all my attacks with his chakra but how, how did he see it coming? Does he have eyes in the back of his head?' Kidomaru thought.

**Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba**

'We're going to have to go one on one. Come on, Neji you hurry and catch up with us. You got it?' Naruto thought.

**Kidomaru and Neji**

Neji quickly turned around and threw a kunai where Kidomaru was.

'No way!' Kidomaru thought as he knelt down to avoid it, "can he see me? What kind of a freak is this guy?'

"I know you're there, come out," Neji told Kidomaru.

'It's those eyes. The chakra flow's not the only thing they can see,' Kidomaru figured out, 'the power of his visual jutsu is beyond belief.'

'Long distance combat is not to my advantage. I've got to get closer to him somehow,' Neji thought.

"Ok then," Kidomaru said as he attached two threads to his feet then a limb and swung down.

"I give you credit, you've made this game more of a challenge then I thought it would be. Time to start playing for real." Kidomaru said as his curse mark appeared. Neji used Byakugan.

'He's like a totally different opponent. His chakra appearance is staggering and those markings...' Neji thought.

'So this guy can see me in the dark and to dodge an attack from behind. In other words he's got 360 degree x-ray vision. On top of that, his jutsu,' Kidomaru thought as he bit his finger and made a web between his hands.

"Summoning jutsu!" Kidomaru shouted as a huge spider appeared beneath him.

"I warn you kid, no matter how strong you're defenses are I can find a way around it." Kidomaru said as the spider secreted more thread.

'If he can dodge attacks by emitting lots of chakra and rotating, then all I have to do is stop that rotation.' Kidomaru thought as he pulled a dagger from his mouth. Kidomaru jumped off the spider and cut the thread it just secreted.

"Scatter!" Kidomaru yelled as thousands of spiders fell from it.

"Rotation!" Neji yelled as he knocked the spiders away but they're web slowed him down and Kidomaru laughed.

"There that slowed him down," Kidomaru said as Neji stopped and he threw the kunai, "now! Now you die!"

Neji looked in time to see the kunai racing towards him. But Neji created a force field that knocked it away.

'He slowed my dagger with chakra at the last second.' Kidomaru figured out.

'What? His web stopped my rotation and our chakra canceled each other out. Enough of this,' Neji thought as he broke the web on him, 'if my rotation won't work I'll just have to cut every web one by one.

'His strength is close range taijutsu so as long as I keep my distance I'm alright. Just keep pounding away at him; I've got all the time in the world,' Kidomaru thought as he laughed and threw more kunai at Neji who dodged them all. Neji then looked up and saw more spiders coming at him.

"Eight Trigrams One Hundred Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji yelled as he kept killing the spiders but there seemed to be no end.

'There's no end to them,' Neji thought then changed his stance.

'Huh? He changed his stance,' Kidomaru thought.

"Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!" Neji yelled as he started defeating the spiders quicker.

'What? His number of blows has doubled. If he gets the chance to use that on me I'm finished. Well if it's a numbers game two can play at that,' Kidomaru thought.

'There's too many of them and not enough time. Just as I thought the rotation won't work,' Neji said as he got tangled in the webs again but he didn't see the kunai coming at his; one hit his shoulder.

'Huh? So that's how it is. He's been anticipating my attacks by combining his x-ray vision with long-range vision as well as a 360 line of sight. And to all of that his lightning fast reflexes, this kid's got an all-defensive barrier. Judging by the time of his last attack, he reacts to the kunai once they get within 50 m of his position but not quite all. Somehow or another one of them got through and that means there's a blind spot,' Kidomaru figured out as more spiders came down.

"Eight trigrams six-" Neji yelled in pain and coughed up blood as a kunai hit him in the back.

'Yeah just as I thought, now more!' Kidomaru yelled as more kunai and spiders rained down, 'this time two should get through,' Kidomaru thought as two more kunai flew into Neji's back and he fell to the ground. Kidomaru laughed.

"I don't you I'd find a way around your defenses. Actually right throw your defenses. All those moves were an attempt to hide your blind spot aren't they? Those eyes don't quite see everything do they?" Kidomaru asked as Neji weakly stood up, "am I supposed to be impressed; why bother? The game's over. What is the point; what do you hope to accomplish? Don't make this messier than it has to be just roll over and die why don't you? You can't beat me!"

Neji breathed heavily then narrowed his eyes.

"Time to wrap this up," Kidomaru said as the spider growled and fell down where Neji was.

"Gentle fist!" Neji yelled as the spider turned into thread from his punch.

'Perfect, that's one pest and three to go,' Kidomaru said as daggers flew towards Neji; three more hit him and he fell onto the ground, "I actually enjoyed myself even though the ending was predictable," Kidomaru thought as he started walking away. Kidomaru looked back and saw Neji weakly standing up with six kunai in his back breathing heavily.

'That many hits from that distance and he's still standing. I'll have to work on my aim; this kid is something else. This guy's becoming more fun than I ever dreamed. I'll have to say my appreciation,' Kidomaru thought as he advanced to his cursed seal's second stage and created a bow and arrow.

* * *

Please R&R


	3. Chapter 3

Please R&R

* * *

**Tayuya and Sakon**

"I don't expect much from that slob Jirobo. But what the heck is keeping Kidomaru? He should've caught up by now!" Tayuya yelled.

"You know he always plays around with his opponents; he likes to keep things fun,' Sakon replied.

"He gives me the creeps when he does that. Too much fun and he goes off his head and reaches second stage." Tayuya replied.

"Oh yeah, and when Kidomaru reaches second state, watch out if you're the other guy," Sakon added.

**Neji and Kidomaru**

He fired at Neji's blind spot, but Neji is able to move it in time to keep it from hitting a vital organ and instead it hits him through his shoulder.

Kidomaru pulled back the arrow with his teeth and held the bow with his feet.

"Striking accuracy, 100% destructive power, maximum die!" Kidomaru let the arrow go and it blew towards Neji and created a smoke cloud. He saw Neji standing at the edge of the crater having dodged the arrow.

"What?" Kidomaru asked as Neji breathed heavily.

'That was close. It would have been lethal... but I was able to divert it slightly. It is true. He too has come to realize the secret of Byakugan.' Neji thought.

'What is going on? Why?' Kidomaru thought as he saw a wound on Neji's shoulder.

"Why did it hit fifteen centimeters above the critical point?" Kidomaru asked before Neji fell to the ground then Kidomaru noticed a chakra field around him, 'I see, that chakra... all this time he has been continually releasing chakra around him. On such a wide scale, no wonder he was able to detect the arrow, as well as change its course with that charka. To emit chakra on that scale must be a deadly struggle. He won't be able to dodge them without doing so. In other words, there's no mistake... as I predicted, he couldn't see that arrow.'

'He isn't making useless attacks. He's using them to gain information. He is realizing the shortcomings of these eyes. Impressive. Out of all the enemies I have fought, he is the strongest!' Neji thought as he sat up and coughed up blood; Neji stood up.

'His field of view is 360 degrees, and he is able to accurately detect attacks within a 50 meter radius. But for some reason there was a kunai he couldn't dodge. Why couldn't he completely avoid it? That is because he couldn't actually see it. In other words, there is a blind spot to his jutsu. The kunai that reaches this blind spot is unseen, and he can't react to it. That's why he uses that defensive technique to deal with attacks directed toward the blind spot. I have analyzed all my attacks and have completely understood them. There exists a blind spot radiating from a small point below his first vertebrae. It's true that by moving and changing the position of the blind spot, it becomes harder for me to aim for it. But that has no effect on me. The jutsu is not effective if you're not close to the enemy. However, you don't have the luxury to think about how to get close to me. Now is the time to think only of running. Whether or not you struggle, you'll die anyway. There seems to be only a small amount of chakra left. It's no use.' Kidomaru thought as Neji ran and pulled out all the daggers. Kidomaru pulled another arrow from his mouth and pulled it back as Neji leaned against a tree.

'The weak character in an easy game has the fate of dying first.' Neji thought before he started running and Kidomaru released the arrow with web attached to it. Kidomaru moved the arrow as Neji's blind spot moved but Neji moved just in time. His headband fell and blood dripped on the rope. It had barely cut his check.

'I see, by using this string...' Neji thought before he fell to the ground.

'Seems like the trajectory shifted a little. Then I'll add more of a spin to this one. Even if this hits a tree, it will cut down the tree itself so it will remain true to its path.' Kidomaru thought as he pulled a spinned arrow from his mouth.

"I will use a string filled with chakra like before, and control it up to 50 meters. To aim at the moving target, I'll pinpoint the blind spot and fire the arrow in. so you can still stand?' Kidomaru thought as Neji stood up and he pulled the arrow back.

'Strong... he is far stronger than me. I barely have any chakra left. I probably won't be able to completely avoid the next attack. Is this it? Naruto... what would you do? It's fine. It's not like I can dodge it anyway...' Neji thought.

_Flashback_

"_I'll definitely win!" Naruto yelled._

_End flashback_

'He's stopped moving, I see. Given up? But I have to make sure. Accuracy, 120%; destructive force, the most immense!' Kidomaru thought as he let the arrow go. Neji turned around as the arrow flew towards him. It hit him in the stomach and he hit the tree and slumped over as the arrow held him to the tree.

"Got him!" Kidomaru yelled.

"Here it is!" Neji grabbed the string and sent his chakra into the rope; it went into Kidomaru before he fell.

'W-What? He's still... but that one shot should have definitely killed him.

_Flashback_

"_I destroyed it by pouring my chakra into it. It is useless against my jutsu._

_End flashback_

"I see, he flowed in his last remaining chakra into the string.

"Eight birds? I couldn't see the other bird again..." Neji thought looking at some crows, "He's..."

"A number of organs are damaged, but I can somehow still move." Kidomaru thought.

_Flashback_

"_You loser. I told you. I'm bad at giving up." Naruto told him._

"_Why do you try so hard to go against your fate?" Neji asked._

"_It's because you called me a loser! If you think it's impossible, you don't have to do anything anymore! After I become Hokage, I'll change your Clan! Multi shadow clone was the jutsu I hated the most. All that stuff about fate and not changing, stop going on about them. Unlike me, you're not a loser." Naruto answered as Neji laid on the ground._

_End flashback_

'Your favorite ninjutsu I see. I was careless.' Neji thought.

Naruto, and Shikamaru

"Well, boys. It looks like it's just the three of us left now." Kiba said.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. Choji and Neji are gonna catch up in no time," Naruto replied.

"Choji's got his trump card with him and don't forget I fought Neji in the chunin exam so I know." Naruto added.

"You know what?" Kiba asked.

"That guy is a true genius," Naruto said.

**Tayuya and Sakon**

"We've got to hurry," Sakon said as the sun started setting.

"I know," Tayuya said.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba

Akamaru sniffed.

"We're close," Kiba replied.

"There's only two left so against the three of us, I like those odds. If we play things right next time we meet up we'll be able to end this once and for all." Shikamaru pointed out.

"I'll say. Two against three no sweat!" Naruto yelled.

"What do you mean it's two against three?" Kiba yelled.

"Sorry, two against four I mean. I like those odds even better," Shikamaru apologized.

"Wait 'til these clowns see our new technique. They won't know what hit him, right boy?" Kiba asked as Akamaru barked.

"Don't worry about a thing. As soon as we catch up to them all I gotta do is my shadow clone jutsu and the show's over." Naruto bragged.

"Well, that's comforting to know. All the same we're working as Akamaru team here right? Just stick to the plan." Shikamaru asked.

"Oh well sure," Naruto added.

"The most important thing is to at least get them in range before the sun goes down," Shikamaru added.

"What are we waiting for? Let's hit it!" Kiba asked as the three traveled faster.

**Tayuya and Sakon**

"The sun's going down and there's still no sign of Jirobo and Kidomaru. Must've run into more trouble than they expected." Sakon guessed.

"Who cares about them? It's Orochimaru I'm worried about. It's taken a full day and only a third of the transition has been completed. There's been too may delays," Tayuya replied.

"You're right it's not good. At this rate it might be too late," Sakon said as the sun went down.

**Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru**

"Hurry there just ahead!" Kiba said.

"We know we're close enough. We'll stay right on their tail but we're gonna maintain this distance," Shikamaru said.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"We'll keep them in our side but we won't attack until sunrise," Shikamaru explained.

"That's crazy! We can't afford to wait until then what about Sasuke?" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah he's right. If we're going to a surprise attack, it'll be even a bigger surprise if we hit them in the dark," Kiba added.

"The darkness might help us at the beginning but then it'll just put us at a disadvantage right? Don't forget what we're really after. We need to keep them occupied long enough to get Sasuke out of there. That'll take precision and split second timing. We need to be able to see clearly; we can't risk going in blind and wandering around in the dark. Once they knew what we're doing they just have to step back and guard Sasuke's coffin. They could take a defensive position and wait for us to come to them. The advantage would be all on their side. Of course, it would be different if we had Neji and his Byakugan." Shikamaru explained.

**Neji and Kidomaru**

Neji cut the web and ran towards Kidomaru.

'I won't let myself lose. Even if the enemy is far stronger than me; even if my body should perish! I won't lose! There is a reason why I can't lose!' Neji thought.

"This time I've made a mistake; you play around too much!" Neji yelled at Kidomaru who swung by web attached to his feet and multiply punched him in the stomach. Kidomaru rolled onto the ground as Neji stood above him. Kidomaru turned into his human form.

'His chakra..." Kidomaru thought.

"Why? It was meant to instantly kill. Why are you alive?" Kidomaru asked.

"I wouldn't have been able to dodge it anyway, so I was determined to take it on. I've always knew my own weak point before you did. There is a blind spot in this Byakugan. But if I know that your attacks only come from there, I can release charka only to the blind spot and deflect the attack. Moving a few centimeters to dodge the attack is not that hard. I will be heavily injured, but I can avoid instant death." Neji answered.

"So you deliberately took the hit? When you are going to die anyway, why would you go that far?" Kidomaru asked.

"You have been one of the strongest enemies I have fought. But I have a reason why I cannot lose. The one that was the strongest out of all my opponents... he said this... unlike me, you're not a loser." Neji answered.

"What?" Kidomaru asked as he coughed.

"I have always been called a genius. So I cannot lose, for the sake of those that believe that I'm a genius. You said a weak character's fate is to die first, right? Look at this situation, fate is not something people decide on!" Neji told him.

"We'll see, you're about to die too." Kidomaru said before Neji grabbed his forehead protector.

* * *

Please R&R


	4. Chapter 4

Please R&R

* * *

_Flashback_

"_Neji, you must live . you are the one that is graced the most by the talent of the Hyuga Clan." Neji's father told him._

_End flashback_

"I can't die that easily." Neji told him.

"Even if you resist, you can't change the flow of time. Sasuke, ran off with the Sound Four of his own will." Kidomaru told him.

"No. there is someone who can find Sasuke in the darkness and save him." Neji explained.

"Sasuke is Orochimaru's possession. No matter who, he won't be sa-" Kidomaru started.

"He will be saved! Naruto... you... saved me from the darkness..." Neji stated with a smile before he coughed.

"Talking nonsense until the end. But I haven't been this beaten down since Kimimaro. Darn it..." Kidomaru stated before he died and Neji fell to the ground.

**Tayuya and Sakon**

Tayuya was carrying the box when it moved.

"Hold on a second," Tayuya said as they stopped.

"Are we almost there?" Sakon asked.

"No, we still have a ways to go but take a look," Tayuya motioned to Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba behind them, "And of course now that we need him there's no sign of Jirobo or Kidomaru."

"Sorry, just us." Naruto said.

"Who needs those two I can handle these guys myself!" Sakon yelled.

"Get ready!" Naruto yelled as Sakon came towards them. Naruto threw a kunai but Sakon easily dodged.

"Shadow clone!" Naruto yelled as Kiba and Shikamaru flew in to the air to meet him.

"Fist barrage!" Sakon yelled as he threw Kiba and Shikamaru out of the way. Meanwhile, Naruto formed a rasengan but Sakon caught Naruto's arm just when he was about to hit him.

"How are you supposed to hit me if you can't throw it?" Sakon yelled as Kiba came and aimed for Sakon but missed and started coming towards Tayuya.

"Do you really think that's going to work!" Sakon yelled as Tayuya started to move out of the way but couldn't.

"What... what hit me?" Tayuya asked as she looked over and saw Shikamaru.

"It's called a shadow possession jutsu," Shikamaru answered as Kiba took the box with Sakon following him.

"Tayuya! Don't just stand there get that guy!" Sakon yelled as Shikamaru forced her to stay where she was.

"I don't have time to stop!" Sakon yelled as he rammed into her and they both fell.

"Here catch!" Kiba yelled as he threw the coffin to Naruto.

"Ok, got it!" Naruto yelled.

"Ok, we got them Shikamaru time to pull out!" Kiba yelled as Shikamaru followed.

"Little punks!" Tayuya shouted as she and Sakon lay on a limb.

"Just as I thought; they were too smart for their own good." Shikamaru told Naruto.

Sakon stood up as his curse mark appeared and flew after them with Tayuya.

"I won't let you get away!" Sakon yelled.

"They're fast." Kiba added, "Akamaru!"

Akamaru had set paper tags all over the trees; one exploded when Sakon landed by it.

"Alright! Good work!" Kiba yelled.

"Quit playing around!" Sakon yelled as he jumped towards them. Sakon threw wire on Akamaru pinning him to the branch as a tag exploded by him. Kiba landed by him as the tag went off.

"Kiba! Akamaru!" Naruto yelled as Sakon, Kiba and Akamaru fell down a canyon.

"What happened?" Naruto asked

"YOU IDIOTS!" Tayuya yelled as she flew towards them.

"Where did Kiba and Akamaru go?" Naruto asked.

"The other one is coming. It can't be helped; I'll deal with this. You take the barrel and go on ahead." Shikamaru pointed out as Tayuya flew towards them but stopped.

"Why are you...?" Tayuya asked.

Kimimaro jumped down and kicked the barrel back then jumped back with it. He stood up and looked at Naruto.

"Sorry, Naruto... I guess I miscalculated." Shikamaru apologized.

"Kimimaro." Tayuya stated.

"You're too late, Tayuya. And also, what happened to the other three? You, who were once part of The Five." Kimimaro stated.

"Why are you...? Your body... your body is no longer..." Tayuya started.

"I'm no longer moving using my body. I'm moving with the power of my spirit." Kimimaro explained.

"Well... you're living beyond your time..." Tayuya told him.

"I am beginning to understand. It's the feeling of existing with only the mind, without the bondage of the body. It's like I'm touching a part of Orochimaru's dream." Kimimaro stated touching the barrel.

"Orochimaru!" Naruto yelled.

"This container is essential for that dream. The body that Orochimaru truly wants. But you guys were a bit too late." Kimimaro added.

'Another dangerous foe has arrived. This feeling... he's not just anyone. Anyway, I have to assess the situation. If we are careless and attack without thinking...' Shikamaru thought.

"Why you! What are you talking about? Give back Sasuke!" Naruto yelled jumping towards Kimimaro.

"Naruto, wait!" Shikamaru yelled before Tayuya punched Naruto, who was caught by Shikamaru. Kimimaro jumped beside Tayuya.

"Tayuya... the reason why I have not yet killed you is, you must survive to accomplish a mission. And my mission is to take that barrel to Orochimaru." Kimimaro told her.

"Isn't it too late?" she asked.

"I told you. That is the body Orochimaru truly wants." Kimimaro repeated.

"That means it's the next container, eh?" she asked.

"That is what it means. And this is the best that I can do. Those two pieces of trash, I will leave them to you." Kimimaro stated heading to the barrel.

"You jerk!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, calm down." Shikamaru told him.

"How can we calm down? At this rate, Sasuke will be out of our reach!" Naruto yelled.

'What Naruto said is true. This is a mission to bring Sasuke back to the Leaf. In order for the mission to succeed, I have to think of the most rational path to take.' Shikamaru thought before Tayuya took out her flute.

"You stupid heads! I'll finish you off quickly!" Tayuya yelled.

"Naruto, listen up. Please act according to my plan." Shikamaru told him. Tayuya watched as they talked to each other and analyzed them.

'Multi shadow clone is his only useful offensive move, a typical close-combat moron. And he is a mid-range type who uses shadow techniques. I guess he's a rather sharp-minded leader.' Tayuya thought.

"Got it?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah." Naruto replied.

"Let's go, you idiots!" Tayuya yelled before Shikamaru stood up with a kunai.

"It's two on one. We have her outnumbered! If there are two of us, it's something we can handle! Let's go Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Alright!" Naruto replied.

"You stupid excuses for life, no matter how many of you there are, it won't make any difference!" Tayuya yelled.

"Don't look down on our teamwork." Shikamaru told her.

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled before they jumped at her. Shikamaru threw the kunai at her who blocked it with her flute.

"Now, Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled.

"I will kick your butt!" Naruto yelled as he aimed his fist at her then oddly flew over her.

"Mission accomplished! Bye!" Naruto yelled hitting his butt then running off.

"You fooled me! What do you mean, teamwork? Dumbies!" Tayuya yelled.

Tayuya saw his shadow before she jumped back.

"I guess you wouldn't fall for the same jutsu again, eh?" Shikamaru asked.

"You brat, you sure did it." Tayuya told him.

"Well, I guess letting him get away is good enough. Remember... jutsu isn't the only way to fight." Shikamaru told her hitting his head.

'I leave it to you, Shikamaru. Hold on, Sasuke!' Naruto thought as some of the Nine Tail leaked out. Kimimaro stopped at an open field and laid the barrel down.

'If Tayuya makes it back. I will kill her.' Kimimaro thought before Naruto jumped beside him.

"Hold on! Hey!" Naruto yelled.

"Let's see, how I should defeat him? Those eyes. It looks like he has strange chakra.' Kimimaro thought.

"What does Orochimaru want to do? Why is he after Sasuke?" Naruto yelled.

"Orochimaru has already perfected the immortality technique. To acquire all jutsu, you need a long time." Kimimaro stated.

"What does that have to do with Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Even though he is immortal, the body is not able to last forever. Before the body rots away, a newer, stronger body is to be made into a container." He added.

"Sasuke? As if I am going to let that happen!" Naruto yelled.

* * *

Please R&R


	5. Chapter 5

Please R&R

* * *

"You idiot! You think sending that little shrimp will stop anything? Besides, look at what's happened to your team up to this point. You probably had to sacrifice a member each time you faced an obstacle just so you could keep moving. I mean what the heck is so special about this Sasuke guy anyway. How many are you gonna lose just to save this one insignificant shinobi? You're pretty dumb for a leader." Tayuya said.

"You've got a point there. You see this mission we're on is my first as a platoon leader and it's pretty hard to watch your friends whittle down like this. To be honest I don't know if the decisions I made were the right ones. As platoon leader I'm responsible for the safety of my men. You would think I'd value my teammates over the value of one guy who's been taken prisoner. If I had scrapped this mission I would have been blamed by the book." Shikamaru explained.

"Of course, then why didn't you scrap it?" Tayuya asked him.

"It's kind of funny; the world doesn't play by the book to often does it? Besides, there isn't a single person in my platoon who would stop fighting and abandon a friend who had been captured by the enemy. Not even if it meant sacrificing all of their lives. That goes for me too. Frankly, I'm a lazy cloud watching oaf who's not meant to be a leader or bark out orders to anyone. But there is one thing I do pretty darn well for my teammates. And that's believing in them. Listen, I don't look at sacrificing my men. In fact, I don't believe any of them are dead. Don't insult my friends or you'll pay." Shikamaru said.

"Summoning jutsu!" Tayuya yelled as three men appear behind her. They are three beings summoned by Tayuya. Their eyes and ears are covered and their mouths are sewn shut, a reference to the three wise monkeys. By playing specific melodies on her Demonic Flute, Tayuya can control them, each melody causing them to perform different actions.

Each demon is different in appearance and each wields a different weapon. One wears a dark green full-body suit and its hair covers its entire head and face. It wields a giant metal club. The other is shirtless and wears dark pants. It's bald and it has scars on its head and it wears a blindfold. It has a thorn-like weapon tied to each arm. The other has its upper body covered in bandages and wears brown pants. Its head is in an awkward position and has several needles pinned on it. It doesn't have arms and thus it doesn't wield any weapon. Each demon has a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around its waist, like Tayuya and the rest of the Sound Four.

I will not let you have Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

"Interesting." Kimimaro stated.

"Yeah!" Kiba yelled as he hit Sakon in the shoulder but nothing happened and he was thrown back into a river. Akamaru barked and ran beside him.

"What's going on?" Kiba asked.

'He should have been heavily damaged but it didn't work on him. And where did his attack come from?' Kiba thought.

"Listen up, Akamaru. Well use our jutsu to cut him off." Kiba stated before Akamaru turned into a Kiba clone. They ran towards Sakon and spun above him. They hit where he was standing.

"That's not good. Oh well," Shikamaru said as Tayuya snickered.

"I'll play a little melody of death for you. You shouldn't insult me or my friends, either worm!" Tayuya said as she started playing her flute.

'So this is her melody of death,' Shikamaru thought as the three demons disappeared. Suddenly one tried to hit him with his club, and another tried to crush him with his body, 'so she controls them with that flute!'

Akamaru and Kiba were each being held by their wrists by Sakon and Ukon.

"What is this guy?" Kiba asked before he kicked at Sakon but a foot appeared in his stomach and stopped it.

"Two on two, it's perfect. Isn't it Sakon?" Ukon asked.

"There seems to be a lot of garbage lying around here. But in the end garbage is still garbage... until it has been cleaned up." Kimimaro stated.

"Shut up! I'll crush you!" Naruto yelled before pointy bones came out of Kimimaro's wrists and Naruto's nails grew longer.

The clones ran at Kimimaro.

Tayuya continued playing as her curse mark appeared.

'Darn it, she keeps getting further away; what do I do?' Shikamaru thought as he saw two of them coming in above him, 'oh man this is not good,'

Shikamaru managed to dodge in time.

'These guys are persistent but I'm starting to get the picture here. Still this isn't going to be a cakewalk,' Shikamaru thought as the two came at him again.

'There,' Tayuya thought as she spotted Shikamaru.

"I've got to get out of here!" Shikamaru shouted as he dodged the monsters again, "what a drag, uh-oh."

Kiba was thrown back as Sakon punched him and turned into Akamaru.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled.

"Oops, looks like that is the real one." Sakon said before he turned around and hit Kiba.

"Galting Punch!" Sakon yelled as Kiba fell into a rock.

"Here I come!" Sakon yelled punching at Kiba who dodged so Sakon hit the rock but another arm came out of his elbow and grabbed Kiba's throat, "We are very close brothers. Usually my brother, Ukon, would be sleeping inside me. But sometimes during a battle he'll come out and lend a hand. Ukon is able to extend his legs and arms from any part of my body, and is able to both attack and defend. Like this!"

'So that's this guy's ability!' Kiba thought before a first came out of Sakon's forehead and punched Kiba. Akamaru ran towards them barking.

"Gatling Kick!" Sakon yelled before Kiba was thrown into Akamaru, "with three times the kick, it sure hurts, doesn't it? well, next time will be-"

Ukon put his hand over his brother's mouth.

"We don't have time to play around, Sakon." Ukon stated as he went into his cursed form, "we'll finish it right away. Use level two."

"Yeah, yeah. My brother is too hasty." Sakon replied.

'I see. That pile of hair behind his head wasn't a fake after all. When that guy on the right appeared his chakra increased tenfold. This was already a nearly hopeless cause. What a day.

"How do you like it, brother?" Sakon asked.

"In bits and pieces." Ukon replied.

"Darn it, is that all we did?" Kiba asked before Akamaru barked, "What? Are you suggesting we should do _that_? No we can't, Akamaru. Doing it here, without any of our teammates around, is too dangerous! You know that, don't you? If we were to use that technique, it will use up most of our chakra, and we won't be able to move. If we were to miss, we would die in vain."

Akamaru bit his hand as Sakon ran towards them; Akamaru got in front of him.

'For you to bite me, I must be an awful master. I get it Akamaru. I will do what you said. it's the only option left!' Kiba thought.

"Double Wolfgang Fang!" Kiba yelled before Akamaru jumped over the twins and Sakon punched Kiba; Sakon laughed but Kiba grabbed his arm, "now Akamaru! Air marking!"

Akamaru started spinning in the air.

"How dare you do such disgusting things?" Sakon asked before Kiba and Akamaru touched each other.

"Human-Creature combination Transformation!" Kiba yelled before they both turned into white giant dogs, "Double-Headed Wolf!"

""I thought something interesting had arrived, but it's just a wild, drooling beast. What can this thing do?" Sakon asked before they spinned and hit them, ripping them in half.

"Heh, how about that? Our rotation speed is so fast that our field of vision is practically zero. Even if we don't touch you, it will still slice you up. If you take it directly, you'll be in pieces." Kiba stated before both the men grew the rest of their body then stood up.

"Now you've gone too far. Perfect, I was just thinking we should split up and fight." Ukon stated.

"What? They split into two?" Kiba asked.

"It's true that if we had gotten hit head on, it would have been bad. the real show starts now." Sakon stated.

"We can only do it one more time then that's it. Let's go! We have your scent!" Kiba yelled.

"Rashoumon!" Ukon and Sakon yelled before the buildings blocked the attack.

"They managed to do damage to Orochimaru's absolute defense. But... it wasn't enough this will be the end!" Ukon stated as he jumped into the air but Akamaru peed on his eyes. Sakon hit Akamaru who fell to the ground.

"Where's the other one?" Kiba asked before Sakon appeared on his shoulder.

"Looking for me? I'll deal with the rest. You go wash your eyes in the river." Sakon stated before he grabbed Kiba's arm.

"This is my ability. Even with that nose and brains you can't win. Chakra surrounds every organ. The chakra is connected to cells. Those make up the matter of life and death. When at Level two. I can split up and reconstruct them. I can break up my body into pieces get into enemy bodies then reconstruct myself.

"Akamaru! I have to give up." Kiba stated.

"I can isolate or fuse to a part of you. Brutally killing by tearing off cells of yours." Ukon stated.

"In that case." Kiba stated before he hit himself with Kunai, "What's happening.

"Suicide what a fool!" Ukon yelled before they both screamed in pain. Kiba started to hit again.

"Stop!" Ukon yelled before he jumped out of Kiba.

"I'm losing a lot of blood." Ukon pointed out as he sat up before Kiba threw smoke bombs at him. Ukon ran out of the smoke and saw that Kiba was gone but Akamaru was still there, "left your dog and ran away. Smart but more cold-hearted than me."

Ukon stood above him before the dog exploded into kunai. Kiba sat behind a rock as he held Akamaru in his lap.

'Thank goodness. He's still breathing. Thank goodness. You did well, Akamaru. I managed to delay the enemy with you. We've always been together. I'll protect you' Kiba thought.

"I'll kill him!" Ukon yelled as daggers stuck in him, "Sakon where are you? Sakon! Sakon!"

"You're yelling is hurting my ears. I would kill him but I need to sleep. Capture them; when I wake up I'll deal with them." Ukon told him as he went into his brother.

Sakon followed Kiba's trail of blood to see that it was only his jacket.

"He left his clothes." Sakon stated before he saw the trail of blood went into the river, "escaped into the river? Darn it!"

Shikamaru dodged again as another came for him.

"It's over. There's nowhere to run this time. You're trapped like a rat." Tayuya said.

"Gotta admit that wasn't bad, timing was perfect. You got all three right where you wanted them. That's quite a tricky tune. Something like that must take a lot of practice," Shikamaru said.

"It does actually. So you figured out I was manipulating them with my flute. You're not as dumb as you look. Not like it'll do you any good. Knowing what I've doing isn't the same as knowing how to stop me." Tayuya pointed out.

"You've got a point there. I never was very musical, just ask my mom and dad." Shikamaru said.

'With that flute she can manipulate her buddies like puppets. That song's comprised of sequences of modulated sound waves, each sequence controlling a specific movement. Great Shikamaru, you can analyze it fine but what are you going to do to counteract it? She's right; the fact remains that I have no ear for music.' Shikamaru thought.

"No one's ever heard this song and lived. Here's the finale ninth passage. Demon Revolution!" Tayuya said as she started playing again; all her puppets slightly tilted her head.

"She changed the tune!" Shikamaru stated as the three jumped towards him. "here they come!"

Shikamaru jumped out of the way as the three opened their sowed-shut mouths ripping the threads and released worms. Her melody releases materialized spirits, which are actually special chakra sealed inside of the Doki. The materialized spirits are composed almost entirely of mental energy, so the chakra is in an unstable state. Therefore, they are starved for physical energy, so they hunt for their prey endlessly. They're many-mouthed, worm-like creature that consist almost entirely of spiritual energy, making them impossible to hit. These "spirit worms" are attracted to physical energy, and absorb it on contact, allowing them to weaken an opponent.

"What's happening?" Shikamaru asked as one of the worms grabbed Shikamaru chakra and ate it.

"What's she doing?" Shikamaru asked as the worms came towards him, "wait for it,"

Shikamaru jumped out of the way but left an exploding tag on the limb. When the worms came towards it, it exploded.

'The minute he realizes my material ghosts are going to attack, he evades them. He's smarter than I thought but...' Tayuya thought as the worms came back up with no damage.

'I had to use almost all my powder and smoke bombs back there and all I managed to do was hide. That white thing, it took a bite of my physical energy and that shuriken passed right through him. These things are like apparitions with very little mass, like chakra itself but with an appetite. Probably a chakra that make its form by eating mental energy. That's why they crave physical energy because it keeps them stable. I can't hold those hungry chakras much longer; I won't be able to build up my own chakra. They're pretty dangerous; a ninja who can take chakra from me.'

'She must be using some obscure ninjutsu, which means I should leave those ghost things alone, and concentrate on the one controlling them. The quickest way would be to go and stop the sound of her flute but with those things around it would be impossible to get close enough. Ok, the next best thing would be to capture them with my shadow possession jutsu. But that's not going to happen since they never attack me at the same moment. If I let even one escape he'd get to me and that'd be it. Game over. She hasn't left me any openings on either offense or defense. She must be a pretty good Shogi player. Let's see my remaining ninja tools are twelve kunai knives, nine shuriken, 36' of wire, one flash bomb and one paper bomb. Aw, man, it's like playing Shogi without any bishops or rocks.'

'There's no use hiding; unless you can predict these guys' moments there's nowhere you can run little brat and when I find you I'll break you in two.' Tayuya thought.

'Alright, it's time,' Shikamaru thought as he brought out his kunai and a paper bomb.

'Everything's ready the only thing left is to get it over with. I've got nine moves; I've got to win by then. Game on,' Shikamaru thought as he threw a paper bomb at Tayuya.

'Huh?' Tayuya thought as the bomb exploded but Tayuya jumped out of the way, "oh please my sound jutsu can't be stopped that easily. Whatever you've got planned to beat me it's not gonna work,'

What Tayuya missed was another dagger near her.

'Two,' Shikamaru thought.

'Now's he's scampering around like a little rat. Where is he?' Tayuya thought.

'Three,' Shikamaru thought as another dagger flew towards Tayuya but she used one of her monsters to take it, 'so he's over there,'

One of the monsters came over to where Shikamaru was and looked around. All he saw was a little wire.

'Here's four,' Shikamaru thought as he threw a kunai at the wire. It hit the tree branch and came at Tayuya.

'Cheap trick, you can't fool me.' Tayuya thought as she had her monster catch that one as well.

'Five, six, seven, eight,' Shikamaru thought as he threw them but the monster caught them all.

'Scurrying around the forest, what is he doing?' Tayuya thought as Shikamaru came from behind her. She signaled her monster to go towards him; Shikamaru threw his last dagger and cut a ball hanging on another. The ball flew towards Tayuya.

'Light bomb! Darn! He's making shadows with a flash bomb!' Tayuya thought.

"Shadow possession jutsu!" Shikamaru yelled as he took hold of the three monsters, "shadow possession complete,"

"Wait but how were you able to predict my guys' movements? There's no way someone like you heard a change in my musical patterns." Tayuya asked.

"That's just it. I wasn't looking at the music patterns at all. Can't you think of something else that would give away your command patterns?" Shikamaru asked her; Tayuya eyes widened as she looked at her fingers, "that's right. Your fingers."

"It can't be. He can tell his moves by... he's saying he memorized my finger positions.

"There's no way that's impossible!" Tayuya shouted.

"When you extent your right finger and index finger then you place your middle finger and pinkie the same way. That sound seems to make them crab men stand at the ready. When you press with your right thumb and index finger and move your left index finger and pinkie, that causes the big guy with the club to charge. While you were wasting all your time dodging my knife attacks and trying to locate me, I was observing each one of your finger moves and studying how these thuds reacted to them. Analyzed and memorized." Shikamaru said as Tayuya played her flute again, "don't even try. They're bound by my shadow possession jutsu. There's one rule of Shogi that I always enjoyed the most. Whenever you take one of your enemies' pieces you can turn around and use it as your own."

Shikamaru grabbed a dagger out of one of their hands.

"From here on I attack. I'll use your own three pieces to hunt you down. What do you have to say about that?" Shikamaru asked as Tayuya smirked, "shouldn't you be a bit more worried; you could at least pull a knife or something."

"This flute is my only weapon. I told you not one person who's heart the sound of this flute has survived idiot." Tayuya explained.

"You gotta lot of confidence," Shikamaru said as he and the three monsters flew towards Tayuya.

"Dispel!" Tayuya yelled and the three monsters were gone, "what was that about using my own pieces again me?"

"Loser!" Tayuya shouted as Shikamaru fell to his knees and groaned.

"It's my move now you rat!" Tayuya said as her eyes widened, "What the?"

Thank goodness.

"Shadow possession success. What did I tell ha? That I'd hunt you down using your own pieces. I used them all right. You're three pawns were just the bait I needed. In a basic strategy, the first move's always a fake-out. The tactic is to score on the second move." Shikamaru explained.

"You idiot!" Tayuya shouted.

"Yep," Shikamaru answered.

'There's no other way. Now that it's come to this I'll need to summon more power. I didn't think I'd need to go to second state with a chump like him. It ticks me off but I've got to admit for a little punk this guy was pretty impressive.' Tayuya thought as she entered second stage. In Level 2 Cursed Seal form, her hair grew longer and turned pink, her skin turned dark brown, and she grew several horns on her head. She also gained immense stamina and endurance.

"What is this? She changed." Shikamaru asked.

"Up until this point you might've thought you were pretty sharp as a fighter but from here on things won't go according to your plan." Tayuya stated.

'What is she?' Shikamaru thought as Tayuya started to move, 'no way. Is she strong enough to force herself out of the shadow possession jutsu. What's up with this tremendous chakra? My chakra's going to fall apart. I can't worry about conserving chakra; I have to use my other jutsu.' Shikamaru thought.

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	6. Chapter 6

Please R&R

* * *

Kiba walked out of the river holding Akamaru and his wound with a trail of puddles behind him.

A little later Sakon followed the trail.

'With those wounds, it doesn't seem like he could get very far, does it?' Sakon thought.

'Darn it, he's already caught up with me.' Kiba thought.

Sakon followed the trail and continued into the forest and saw Kiba.

"Found you." Sakon stated in front of him.

Sakon struck the dagger at Kiba but it hit Kankuro's puppet instead.

"Who are you?" Sakon asked.

"Allies of the Leaf." Kankuro replied before the puppet grabbed at him. Sakon quickly flew back.

Sakon grabbed onto Kankuro but he turned into a puppet.

"What's wrong, Sakon?" Ukon asked.

The puppet grabbed onto Sakon with his arms then let go as Sakon fell to the ground. The arms on the puppet had blades.

The puppet flew at Ukon and grabbed onto him. The puppet closed then the arms and head shot down into the puppet with daggers, cutting Ukon making him fall to the ground.

Kiba walked over and picked up Sakon and Ukon draped one over his shoulder and carried the other under his arm.

"Come on, let's get back to camp." Kiba told Akamaru before they walked toward camp.

"Ninja Art Shadow Strangle Jutsu!" Shikamaru yelled as the shadow crawled up Tayuya and started choking her body.

'Is he choking my body with his shadow? It feels just like I'm being grabbed by a real hand.' Tayuya thought.

"I am not letting you beat me!" Tayuya yelled as she lifted her flute.

'Darn it. She's got incredible strength and at this distance I can't hold onto her.' Shikamaru thought as Tayuya started playing her flute again.

'Take this! Demon Flute Chains of Fantasia,' Tayuya thought as she summoned a genjutsu around Shikamaru.

'This is bad, this is a genjutsu?' Shikamaru thought as he threw a kunai at a tree.

'Ha, what's he trying to do?' Tayuya thought as the shadows grew weaker on her until they went away. Tayuya forced Shikamaru to stretch his arms out.

'My body, I can't move,' Shikamaru thought as his limbs were tied with ropes and attached to a ceiling; there were skeletons all over the ground. Shikamaru's arm suddenly started melting away and he screamed.

'When I'm in second stage my flute can release all kinds of genjutsu. Of all of them, this one's completely appropriate for that rat. That's because this genjutsu paralyzes its prey and traps it like vermin.' Tayuya thought as she looked at the dagger he had thrown, and not even at her for the matter.

"Tell me, how does it feel to be the one tied up," Tayuya said as she grabbed the kunai and jumped beside him, "so you said this was your final move didn't you? Unfortunately, it's checkmate. Die little rat!"

Tayuya threw the kunai at him but Shikamaru punched her in the stomach, stopping her.

"How did you?" Tayuya asked when she noticed a shadow trailing behind him.

'What? He broke his own finger with his shadow? The pain he caused must have broken the genjutsu; this whole time he kept pretending to be trapped by the jutsu,' Tayuya thought as she grabbed the dagger and tried to stab him but she couldn't.

"I already told you this; the first attack's always a fake. It's basic strategy that the second move win's the match. You might have noticed my second move was a little different than before. With the shadow strangle jutsu the closer I am to my opponent the stronger my hold on him will be." Shikamaru explained as shadows attached to Tayuya.

"Darn it. I got careless and came too close." Tayuya said.

"No, that's not what did it. It was actually something you said to me earlier about how you're only weapon was this flute. Don't you remember?" Shikamaru asked.

"So that's why." Tayuya replied.

"Exactly. The reason I threw my last kunai knife right in front of you. I missed on purpose; you said you didn't have any weapons. So I knew all along that you'd pick it up and come closer to me." Shikamaru said as the shadows crawled further up Tayuya.

"I'll give you credit. You're a lot smarter than I thought and a lot more persistent." Tayuya stated to Shikamaru.

"On top of that I'm a nice guy, well most of the time. You'll have to excuse my bad manners, I'm not normally in the habit of snuggling a lady, but looking at you, you don't really fall into that category do ya? So I guess its okay," Shikamaru said as he pulled his fist back. He stood back and then tried to hit her again but Tayuya stopped him.

"You may have escaped my genjutsu but don't let it go to your head. You're still a worm!" Tayuya yelled.

'She's not completely immobilized by my shadow possession. I've got to make this count!' Shikamaru thought as he pushed forwards as the shadows crawled up to Tayuya's neck, 'just a little more,'

Tayuya then leaned her head over Shikamaru's shoulder and her horns started growing. Tayuya forced the shadow back down.

'Darn it, I don't have enough charka. At this tight range and I've bound her as tight as I can make it; she's still got enough chakra to push back. I've gotta keep the pressure on. If I let up for a second I'll get hammered. That's it if this jutsu doesn't finish it once and for all... calm down Shikamaru, figure out a strategy. There's gotta be some way out of this. I've had it,' Shikamaru thought as they both pushed with all their strength to overcome the other.

"Just a little bit further, you piece of garbage!" Tayuya shouted.

'This is just like that time with Asuma. The chance of someone coming in to help me here are close to zero. Stop wasting brain power on something that will never happen. Just calm down.

"Darn it! I'm racking my brain here. Why can't I come up with anything? I'm at the end of my rope; I can't hold on any longer.' Shikamaru thought as the shadows let go of Tayuya.

"You're mine!" Tayuya shouted as she threw the kunai towards Shikamaru but suddenly she was blasted away with a gust of wind.

"Who are you?" Tayuya asked as she grabbed onto a tree to keep from falling back further.

"Allies of the Leaf Village," Temari answered as she landed on a tree limb. For actual combat, she uses her giant iron fan that, in addition to serving as a makeshift club, can be used to glide upon in order to intimidate her foes. Inscribed on her fan are three purple circles spaced equally across its length, which she calls "stars". As she opens the fan to reveal each star in sequence, the fan's power increases greatly.

"I had heard something about how our village had finally made up with you traitors but I didn't expect you to change sides so quickly." Shikamaru said to her.

"It's not like we attacked the Leaf Village for kicks, you know. We were following orders. That's all, just like we're doing on this mission." Temari answered.

'I get it. The fifth Hokage sent them; she saved our butts.' Shikamaru thought.

"By the way, you seem a lot dumber than the last time our paths crossed. So are you going to give up again this time? Go ahead, I'll take care of this for you." Temari asked.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm not about to give up. And besides a real man doesn't let a woman do his fighting for him." Shikamaru answered.

"Ha, still being all macho with the man and woman stuff? You talk tough but I know it's just an act, idiot." Temari said as she walked away and brought out her giant iron fan.

Kimimaro defeated some of Naruto's clones by use of his kekkei genkai. Shikotsumyaku allowed him to manipulate his skeletal structure as a means of combat. Specifically, it allowed him to manipulate his osteoblast cells, which are responsible for building or breaking down bone tissue. This ability gave him absolute control over the concentration of calcium within his bones, allowing him to control the density or malleability of them, able to make his bones stronger than tempered steel. Kimimaro used this ability to wield his bones as weapons in battle, and could use them in the form of taijutsu attacks (which he called dances) to give him a variety of abilities, as well as grant him a near-invincible defense, able to withstand most of the impact from even a chakra-enhanced blade.

Kimimaro jumped behind Naruto to attack as Naruto was yelling, "you jerk! Give Sasuke back!"

"It's useless. Die." Kimimaro stated as he threw the bone at him but Lee threw him back with a kick, "who are you?"

"The revived student. The leaf's Green Beast. Rock Lee!" Lee yelled.

"Fuzzy Brow? What about your body?" Naruto asked.

"Get Sasuke. Leave him to me." Lee told him.

'This guy is good.' Kimimaro thought.

"Be careful. He uses his bones to attack." Naruto told him.

"Bones?" Lee asked.

"This guy he's really strong." Naruto told him before Lee gave him a thumbs up.

"You go; you made a promise to Sasuke. I will defeat this person. It's a promise!" Lee told him before Naruto nodded and headed after Sasuke.

'You think I'll let you!" Kimmaru stated before he threw the bone at Naruto but Lee stopped him.

"Please don't ignore me." Lee told him.

"Fuzzy Brow..." Naruto murmured.

"You have other places to look." Lee told Kimimaro as he watched Naruto before Lee kicked him in the shoulder, "I'm looking for a reaction."

"Hokage ma'am, Lee is missing!"

"What?" Might Guy yelled.

"darn it, he must have snuck out." Tsunade pointed out before she saw his medicine bottle where her sake bottle used to be, "he went after them? HE MISTOOK MY SAKE BOTTLE FOR HIS MEDICINE AND TOOK IT WITH HIM!"

"Sake? This is bad!"

"What's wrong?" Tsunade asked.

"When Lee drinks... it's horrifying!" Might Guy yelled.

"Horrifying?" Tsunade asked.

"When I took Lee to a party he mistook my sake for water... he drank only a small shot and turned into something awful. Like the silence after a storm. When I came to... the restaurant... was trashed. A mad drunken frenzy! He's a natural at the drunken fist!" Might Guy told him.

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	7. Chapter 7

Please R&R

* * *

Lee kicked Kimimaro back and got into his stance.

"My next move will end it. Leaf Great Whirlwind!" Lee told him. Kimimaro jumped eout of the way as Lee tried to kick his feet up.

'He's skilled... I can't land a kick.' Lee thought, "you're very flexible aren't you?"

"You're very angular, just like your name..." Kimimaro stated before he ran past Kimimaro not hitting him. Kimimaro striked to kill but Lee stopped him.

"Wait! excuse me, it's time for my medicine, I have to take it. please wait." Lee told him before he drank the sake then swayed to and fro.

'What did he drink?' Kimimaro thought.

"Who are ya? You jerk... don't stare at me like that!" Lee yelled before he aimed multiple fast kicks at Kimimaro.

'He's faster than before. That medicine... was it infused with special ingredients?' Kimimaru thought.

"When I move around, I feel reaaallllyyyyy strange." Lee stated before he fell on the ground asleep.

'What the... suddenly... is he really sleeping?' Kimimaru thought as he tried to strike at Lee but Lee jumped up and stopped him then threw him back.

"You fell for it! It looked like I was sleeping but I really wasn't! That is a shinobi's plan! I did it, Might Guy! I'm... I'm..." Lee stated before he fell on the ground sleeping again. Kimimaro tried again.

"You fell for it again! I'm... I'm...wha... why am I here? Huh? Why? Why?" Lee asked before Kimimaru held up the medicine bottle then smelled it.

"Sake? Is he drunk? You'll soon be feeling pain then." Kimimaro stated as he threw the bone at him but Lee dodged without opening his eyes. He tried again and again and again but Lee moved each time then kicked Kimimaro back. He threw more parries but Lee dodged each one.

'Why can't I hit him?' Kimimaro thought before Lee kicked him bac, 'what kind of movement is this? A drunken fist fight? He's unpredictable and fast!'

"Get over here!" Lee yelled before he ran at Kimimaro but tripped then fell, "it's your fault!"

Lee punched Kimimaro back and he dropped his sword. Kimimaro took off his shirt and summoned his stage two curse mark. Then all the bones came out of his arm.

"My ability is summoning bones. I'll end your drunkenness." Kimimaro told him.

"I'm not drunk! I'm underage! I'm not allowed to drink sake!" Lee yelled before he threw a punch but one of Kimimaro's bones it his check. All of his ribs had came out.

"My head hurts and this cut. I guess I was drunk. That appearance." Lee stated.

"This is my advanced Kekkei genkai. I manipulate the cellular structure of my bones and create bones. There are about two hundred but I'm not limited to that number." Kimimaro told him.

"Bone is bone! Once it's broken it's over!" Lee yelled as he hit one but it didn't break, "what?"

Lee ran again but Kimmaru hit him with his bones from his back and he fell to the ground.

"Mhy mission is to slow this person down. I somehow dodged the works attack. Here I come!" Lee yelled before he ran around him then rapped his bandages around Kimaru but his bones caught Lee's leg.

"Impressive speed but it's over. Die!" Kimimaro told him before he threw a punch but sand threw him back.

Lee looked to see that sand had caught him with Gaara standing behind him.

'Sand? Am I still drunk?' Lee thought before Gaara stood in front of him, "Gaara of the Desert."

"Gaara? So, that's who you are?" Kimiaru asked before he shot bone projectiles from his hands but Gaara's sand stopped them.

"Finger Tip Bones?" Lee asked.

"You moves had more speed and edge when we fought." Lee told him.

"I've gone through quite a lot of trouble. I figured you'd say that. Why are you here?" Lee asked.

"I have a big debt to the Leaf." Gaara replied.

'Strong based sang. Difficult to approach.' Kimimaro thought before he summoned bones out of his fingers at Gaara after he dodged the sand Gaara threw at him.

'He's a talented taijutsu user.' Lee thought.

'Offense and Defence. The sand is probably limited to that gourd.' Kimimaro thought.

"Rain of Sand!" Gaara stated before the sand grabbed his feet and the sand rained on him then created additional sand from the ground and surrounded Kimimaro.

"You got him!" Lee told him.

"Not yet; Sand Funeral!" Gaara stated before the sand compressed and blood leaked out, "he reminds me of Sasuke. The same eyes. Eyes that want to prove their existence."

Kimimaro summoned his curse mark inside of the sand before he reached his body out with some of his bones showing.

"N-No way!" Lee stated as blood and sand ran out of Kimimaro.

"If I hadn't made this covers under my skin I would have been crushed. I will not get caught by y our sand again." Kimimary stated.

"Those bones... he's a monster." Gaara stated, "Desert Avalanche!"

Sand formed a huge wave in front of Gaara and smashed down onto Kimimaro.

"Amazing, he can't outrun it and defend." Lee stated as the sand ran into the forest.

"Desert Requiem!" Gaara stated before the sand compressed and the earth shook.

'What a guy, he's even stronger than when he fought me.' Lee thought.

'I am still alive. I have a reason to live.' Kimimaro thought as he summoned the stage 2.

Suddenly an octopus tentacle flew out of the sand.

"What is that?" Lee asked as he and Gaara stared before Gaar enveloped the man in sand again but Kimimaro kept going towards them. He ran at them.

Gaara threw sand at Kimimaro but he dodged all the sand and threw Gaara back leaving Lee alone.

"Is that the limit of your Ultimate Defense? Disappointing. Covered with sand to begin with huh?" Kimimaro asked before Lee tried to kick him but Kimimaro threw him back, "the sand is a hindrance I'll deal with you first."

Kimimaro took out his spinal column and took it out as a weapon.

"His spinal column?" Lee asked before the bone wrapped around Gaara's sand then the thickest bone in his body enveloped his hand before he coughed up blood. Gaara created a snow person in front of him as a defense.

Kimimaro threw the bone in but the bone racked then shattered.

"That ability, kenkai genkai?" Gaara asked.

"The one and only with the Kyuga ability." Kimimaro answered.

"I'll end your clan right now." Gaara told him.

"With my illness I don't have much time anyway. As I protect Orochimaru, I will remain in his heart forever." Kimimaru stated before the sand below him enveloped him in sand and also grabbed the spinal chord attached to Gaara. The sand sunk him into the ground.

"With the sands pressure you won't be able to move a finger." Gaara told him before he disappeared.

"You really got him this time!" Lee told him before bones appeared throughout the sand and hteground. Lee and Gaara levitated on 'sand clouds'.

"Orochimaru, I'm sorry. Orochimaru..." Kimimaru jumped out of the sand and threw a bone right at Gaara before he died of his illness.

"He's dead." Lee stated obviously.

'So this time you're on the Leaf's side huh? You guys are all over the place aren't ya?" Tayuya said as she began to start to play her flute.

"The sound of her flute summons her genjutsu." Shikamaru explained.

"I got it. Cyclone Scythe Jutsu!" Temari yelled as she waved her fan and sent a big gust of wind towards Tayuya, damaging the tree she was in, damaged her flute, and forcing her to retreat back.

'She's deflecting the sound of the flute by nailing her opponent with a physical attack. She can attack and defend at the same time. That's a pretty handy jutsu to have.' Shikamaru thought as Tayuya hid behind a tree.

'It's like that girl was born to fight me.

"Since I'm new to this fight, maybe I'd be a good idea to explain the situation to me. Give me an analysis of her skills and battle styles." Temari asked.

"Well, first off her flute casts genjutsu; she uses it to ensnare her opponents and when you can't move she delivers a fatal attack. She's a typical long range, genjutsu style shinobi, most likely as soon as she saw your jutsu she realized it could counteract her own. That's why she retreated. Besides, it's two against one now. I doubt she'll show herself again until she's able to cast a genjutsu." Shikamaru explained.

"So it's sound," Temari stated.

"That's right, genjutsu works by affecting the senses. Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, among them the one's that involve hearing are the most dangerous of them all. Not only does it allow her to stay out of view and keep a safe distance away from us, but we'll have no idea when or where the genjutsu will be coming from. The idea is for us to already be under the spell of her flute by the time we figure out where she is. If you really want my honest assessment, we're at an overwhelming disadvantage here." Shikamaru explained.

'We shouldn't even talk about even facing this kind of enemy, without close range like Kibo or Neji,' Shikamaru thought.

"Look sooner or later she's gonna get us cornered and that will be that. I think we should withdraw until-" Shikamaru started.

"Excuse me, did I ask for your opinion? I told you to explain the situation to me that's all. You have no idea, what kind of powers I have," Temari said as she bit her finger and brought her fan out. She then wiped the blood on the middle of the fan, "if she thinks she can hide from me but stay close enough that the sound of her flute can still reach me, she's mistaken. Alright! Summoning Beheading Dance!"

Temari sent a tiger with a scythe and a huge gust of wind towards Tayuya.

'Alright, I'm far enough away, it's time for my genjutsu.' Tayuya thought as she lifted her flute. She stopped when she saw trees getting cut in half behind her.

When the attack reached the tree Tayuya was hiding behind, it sliced it up, slashing her several times, causing her to scream in agony. Shikamaru covered his eyes and looked around; a large part of the forest's trees were completely cut in half. Several sliced tree trunk parts then fell on Tayuya and threw her onto the forest floor. Shikamaru looked down and saw her body under a log, breathing heavily but still alive. Shikamaru and Temari jumped down to where she was. Temari pulled out a kunai and knelt down beside her.

"Wait," Shikamaru said stopping her.

"What is it now idiot? I'm going to finish her before she gets up again," Temari explained.

"I don't think she'll be fighting anymore; besides, she and I have been fighting for about two hours. She's probably exhausted and she doesn't have her flute anymore." Shikamaru explained.

"So what do you want to do? Let her go?" Temari asked.

"No, there's no point, I want to ask her a few questions." Shikamaru answered.

"Fine, do whatever you want with her but if she kills you, it's not on my hands," Temari said as she placed her fan under the log and lifted it off Tayuya. Shikamaru picked her up as Temari left.

"Come on, let's get you back to camp," Shikamaru said as he carried Tayuya towards their campsite.

"Shikamaru! Who is that?" Naruto yelled to Shikamaru as he came into camp with Kiba, Neji, Choji, and Akamaru and saw Tayuya lying on the ground with bandages around her waist.

"She won't bother you." Shikamaru stated.

"Why did you bring her here? She too hard for you to beat?" Kiba asked with a smile.

"The reason the Leaf Village is having a hard time getting intel is because all of our shinobi kills their opponents but if we were to capture just one we'd have all the intel we need. Besides, it's rare when we have an opponent who doesn't die at the end of the battle. We could get a lot of info on Orochimaru," Shikamaru explained.

"Oh, you're right. Never thought about that before," Naruto answered.

"You're an idiot." Kiba pointed out.

"You're an idiot." Shikamaru told Kiba.

"No I'm not! I kept my opponents alive, too!" Kiba yelled throwing Sakon and Ukon onto the ground, "I kept two alive. You just had a little girl to deal with."

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